Impact activated explosion simulator

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for indicating an impact of a projectile. The apparatus comprises a compressed gas container having a plurality of ports adapted to exhaust a compressed gas contained within the gas container and an actuator adapted to detect an impact from a projectile. The apparatus further comprises a valve located between the gas container and the plurality of ports activated by the actuator in response to the impact and an audio indicator activated by the actuator in response to the impact. The method for indicating an impact of a projectile comprising detecting an impact of a projectile at a actuator, activating a valve located between a gas container and a plurality of ports in response to the impact upon the actuator and producing an audio indicator in response to the impact upon the actuator.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to the field of indicators in general andin particular to a method and apparatus for indicating an impact from aprojectile to a user.

2. Description of Related Art

In many industries, it is desirable to provide an indication of animpacted projectile. In particular, in various fields where firearmsoperation is necessary, training is frequently undertaken to ensure thatthe personnel in that field have the required skill. Such trainingcommonly involves the personnel shooting at targets to improve their aimand/or reaction times.

One difficulty with common target shooting is that such targets arecommonly static with little or no features to replicate shooting at areal target. Such targets may therefore be less effective at trainingpersonnel to shoot at targets which may react explosively or loudly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first embodiment of the present invention there isdisclosed an apparatus for indicating an impact of a projectilecomprising a compressed gas container having a plurality of portsadapted to exhaust a compressed gas contained within the gas containerand a actuator adapted to detect an impact from a projectile. Theapparatus further comprises a valve located between the gas containerand the plurality of ports activated by the actuator in response to theimpact and an audio indicator activated by the actuator in response tothe impact.

The apparatus may further include an outer body having an impactlocation corresponding to the actuator. The outer body may includesuspending straps. The ports may be located on a top of the outer body.

The ports may include a visual indicator therein adapted to be releasedfrom said ports upon discharge of the compressed gas therethrough. Thevisual indicator may comprise particles. The visual indicator maycomprise a powder. The audio indicator may be selected from the groupconsisting of a speaker, horn or siren.

The apparatus may further include a fill port for introducing acompressed gas into the gas container. The fill port may comprise a oneway valve.

The valve may be adapted to release a burst of the compressed gascontained within the gas container upon being activated by the actuator.The burst may comprise a single burst.

The apparatus may further include a charging handle adapted to reset thevalve after the single burst. The actuator may be calibrated to beactivated by an impact energy of between 5 and 27 J. The apparatus mayfurther include a safety key for interrupting a connection between theactuator and the valve.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention there isdisclosed a method for indicating an impact of a projectile comprisingdetecting an impact of a projectile at an actuator, activating a valvelocated between a gas container and a plurality of ports in response tothe impact upon the actuator and producing an audio indicator inresponse to the impact upon the actuator.

Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparentto those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the followingdescription of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction withthe accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention whereinsimilar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in each view,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus for indicating an impact ofa projectile according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 as takenalong the line 2-2.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of pneumatic control system of the apparatus of FIG.1.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 while releasing avisual indicator from the ports in response to an impact.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an apparatus for indicating the impact of aprojectile according to a first embodiment of the invention is showngenerally at 10. The apparatus comprises an outer body 12 having atarget zone 14 on one surface thereof. The target zone 14 includes anactuator 22 for sensing an impact upon the target zone 14. The actuator22 is adapted to trigger the release of a compressed gas as well as anauditory signal as will be more fully described below.

The outer body 12 may be of any suitable shape as desired by a user tosimulate the appearance of the real world intended target. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the outer body 12 may be substantiallyrectangular have a front face 16 which includes the target zone. Theouter body 12 also includes a top surface 18 and a bottom surface 20.The outer body 12 may be formed of any suitable material such as foam,plastic, metal or the like so as to achieve the desired appearance by auser.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a cross section of the apparatus 10 isillustrated. The apparatus 10 includes a compressed gas container 40within the outer body. The gas container 40 may be of any suitable typefor holding a compressed gas and may be formed of a rigid or semi rigidmaterial such as metal, plastic or the like. In particular the gascontainer 40 may be adapted to contain any inert propellant such as, byway of non-limiting example, nitrogen, high pressure air or liquidcarbon dioxide. The gas container 40 may have a fill nozzle or port 42extending through one side of the outer body 12 as illustrated inFIG. 1. The fill port 42 may be of any suitable type for interfacingwith a source of compressed gas as are commonly known. The gas containerincludes a valve 44 located at an outlet 45 thereof. The valve 44 isconfigured to release the gas contained within the gas container whenthe actuator 22 detects an impact of a predefined amount upon the targetarea 14. The valve 44 may be adapted to release a single burst from thegas chamber in response to an impact upon the target zone 14. Thereaftera charging handle 32 is provided to reset the valve and permitsubsequent releases. A safety key or switch 34 may also be provided toprevent activation of the valve 44 and audio indicator 30 in undesirablelocations.

The outer body includes a plurality of ports 46 along the top surface 18thereof. The ports 46 may include a visual indicator material 48 thereinwhich will be sprayed or distributed by the gas exiting the ports 46.The visual indicator material may be selected to be any suitableparticulate material such as powders, particles or the like. In someembodiments, the visual indicator material may non-flammable liquidssuch as water or water soluble paints.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the apparatus 10 also includes an audioindicator 30 through a bottom port 24 in the bottom surface 20 of theouter body 12. It will be appreciated that as illustrated in FIG. 3, theaudio indicator 30 may comprise at least one port in the apparatus 10which is in fluidic communication with the gas container 40. Inoperation, the valve 44 or 44 b is adapted to release a burst ofpressurized gas through the port to create an indicating sound. Thesound emitted from the apparatus may be of any sound desired by theuser, such as a bang, siren or the like. Accordingly, the size and shapeof the port will be selected to produce such a sound according to knownprinciples. The sound may also be of a volume desired to correspond tothe situation being simulated.

Optionally, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the audio indicator may optionallycomprise a speaker, horn, siren or any other suitable device forcreating a sound to a user. The audio indicator 30 is alsointerconnected with the actuator 22 so as to be activated when theactuator 22 detects an impact upon the target zone 14.

Optionally, the outer body 12 may also include straps 26 for securingthe outer body to an object. In particular, the straps 26 may be formedof any suitable material, such as, by way of non-limiting example, nylonplastic or the like and may be fastened by any suitable connectors, suchas, by way of non-limiting example, buckles, snaps, hook and loopconnectors or ties.

Turning now to FIG. 3, pneumatic schematic of the system is illustrated.The apparatus 10 may include an audio compressed gas container 40 a andvalve 44 a as well as an audio compressed gas container 40 b and valve44 b associated with each of the ports 46 and audio indicator 30,respectively. The fill port 42 may be in communication with each of thecompressed gas containers 40 a and 40 b through a common input line 56.The input line 56 includes a check valve 52 and a pressure indicator 54such as a gauge or the like to indicate a pressurized status of thesystem. Each of the compressed gas containers 40 a and 40 b may alsoinclude associated check valves 50 a and 50 b, respectively so as toprevent escape of compressed gas as well as to isolate each containerfrom each other. As illustrated, the actuator 22 is connected to thevalve 44 and the audio indicator 30 to activate them upon receipt of asufficient impact in the target zone 14. The connection is a physicalone as set out below although it will also be appreciated thatelectrical connections may also be utilized. The size of the impactrequired may be determined by a user to correspond to the impact of anydesired projectile with which the system is to be utilized includingairsoft guns, paintball markers, non-penetrating target ammunition asare commonly known. In particular, the actuator 22 may be selected to beactivated upon receipt of an impact on the target zone 14 of between 5and 27 joules.

In operation, a user may fill the gas container 40 through the fill port42. When a user desires to use the apparatus 10, they may reset thevalve 44 with the charging handle 32 and unlocks the apparatus 10 withthe safety key 34. After this a user, may fire a target projection 6from a practice weapon 8 towards the apparatus 10. If the target zone 14is struck the valve 44 is activated to release the compressed gas fromthe gas container 40 through the ports 46 thereby distributing thevisual indicator material 48 into the air as illustrated in FIG. 4.Furthermore the audio indicator 30 is also activated to omit the sounddesired.

The actuator 22, gas containers 40 a and 40 b and valves 40 a and 40 bare illustrated as separate components in the above description for easeof explanation. It will also be appreciated that the actuator 22, gascontainers 40 a and 40 b and valves 40 a and 40 b may be formed as acommon article such that the interconnections therebetween illustratedin FIG. 3 are direct physical connections such that the actuator 22comprises a switch or button adapted to actuate the valves.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described andillustrated, such embodiments should be considered illustrative of theinvention only and not as limiting the invention as construed inaccordance with the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for indicating an impact of aprojectile comprising: a compressed gas container having a plurality ofports associated therewith adapted to exhaust a compressed gas containedwithin said gas container; an actuator adapted to receive an impact froma projectile; a valve located between said gas container and saidplurality of ports activated by said actuator in response to saidimpact; and an audio indicator activated by said actuator in response tosaid impact.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 further including an outer bodyhaving an impact location corresponding to said actuator.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2 wherein said outer body includes suspending straps.4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said ports are located on a top ofsaid outer body.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said ports includea visual indicator therein adapted to be released upon discharge of saidcompressed gas therethrough.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein saidvisual indicator comprises particles.
 7. The apparatus of claim 5wherein said visual indicator comprises a powder.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein said audio indicator is selected from the groupconsisting of a speaker, horn or siren.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1further comprising a fill port for introducing a compressed gas intosaid gas container.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said fill portcomprises a one way valve.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein saidvalve is adapted to release a burst of said compressed gas containedwithin said gas container upon being activated by said actuator.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 11 wherein said burst comprises a single burst. 13.The apparatus of claim 12 further including a charging handle adapted toreset said valve after said single burst.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1wherein said actuator is calibrated to be activated by an impact energyof between 5 and 27 J.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1 further including asafety key for interrupting a connection between said actuator and saidvalve.
 16. A method for indicating an impact of a projectile comprisingdetecting an impact of a projectile at an actuator; activating a valvelocated between a gas container and a plurality of ports in response tosaid impact upon said actuator; and producing an audio indicator inresponse to said impact upon said actuator.